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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
JAPAN has extended an estimated $21 million grant aid to Zimbabwe for a road construction project to improve the steep gradient on the Makuti-Chirundu section of the North-South corridor.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning said the Japanese grants were non-reimbursable funds provided to a recipient country to procure products and/or services for its economic and social development.

“The Government of Japan has extended grant aid of approximately $21 million to the Government of Zimbabwe for a road construction project to improve steep gradients on the Makuti-Chirundu section of the North-South Corridor.

“The project will be implemented by the Department of Roads in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development under supervision by Japanese highway engineers, who will share with their Zimbabwean counterparts their experience and the latest expertise gained from highway construction in Japan’s mountainous terrain,” said the statement.

Over 250 road workers and other staff are expected to be employed on the project.

The construction phase is expected to commence later this year and be completed in nearly 2021.

It is hoped that the project will serve as a model for the improvement of other steep sections of highways in the region. The 6,5 kilometre section of the road to be attended to under this support is used by a large volume of traffic, including heavy trucks transporting goods across the border at Chirundu to Zambia and beyond, as well as visitors on their way to and from tourist attractions such as Kariba,” said the statement. This section of the road has a high accident rate and in 2016 a total of 110 accidents were recorded along that stretch of highway.  It is envisaged that the safer design of that section of the road would go a long way in reducing the number of accidents to below 20 per year.

And concerning the environmental impacts of this new road construction, the project will be implemented according to Japan’s strict environmental guidelines so that environmental impacts are minimised. — @okazunga.